Comparisons between the Cretaceous and Tertiary floras of central and southwest Europe: a commentary

Abstract

The well documented floras from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain are useful for a comparison with similar floras from Portugal, Germany, France and England. The Upper Cretaceous floras in Spain are characterized by only a few plant remains, in contrast to the rich floras from Bohemia. The genus  Fenelopsis  occurred worldwide in the Cretaceous. A mangrove vegetation with  Nipa  and  Acrostichum  as known from Spain spread along the Eocene shoreline from England-Belgium-France-Spain-Italy-Hungary to Ukraine. The flora from Sarreal near Tarragona is similar to that from Haring in Austria. Arctotertiary elements, whose frequency increased during the Oligocene in Bohemia and Germany, were developed less abundantly in Spain. A warm (subtropical) climatic oscillation during the Early Miocene has not been noted in Spain, but is well known in Central Europe. Leaves identified as Castanea atavia or  Quercus kubinyi , which are widespread in Central Europe in Middle-Upper Miocene strata are apparently not well represented in Spain. There are some similarties between the flora from Cerdanya (Rerolle, 1884) and Crespia (Roiron, 1983) in NE Spain and that of Willershausen in Germany. The names of modern plants should not be used for Pliocene leaves. It is not possible to regard the flora from Crespia to be of Pleistocene age for it contains a high percentage of typically Neogene species (e.g.  Zelkova zelkovaefolia, Acer integerrimun and Parrotia pristina ).